[ID: ten images from the above linked Zine. The background for every odd number image is white while the even number ones are dark gray, except for the first and last image.
Image One: a simple drawing of a person from behind, the progress pride flag hanging from their shoulders and slightly bellowing. Text reads: “One of the most used queer flags / Features our symbol /Bright and purple for all to see / How many of its bearers know what that circle means?”
Image Two: a compilation of search results for intersex. For Tumblr they are: ‘[trans-focused post with no mention of intersex people], [post making fun of cis people for being confused by gender with no mention of intersex people]’. For Twitter they are: ‘[trans-focused tweet with no mention of intersex people], [Futa porn], [Futa porn], [trans-focused tweet with no mention of intersex people]’. For Amazon the search for ‘intersex romance’ results are four ‘Futa porn’ and a ‘Mpreg porn’. The top games and comics tagged intersex have three results while for books tagged intersex there's only one result.
Image Three: a drawing of a featureless person with their hand to their chin and a question mark near their head as text reads, “When does ignorance become a crime? Fumbling is expected from people who have never heard of us. It's frustrating, but I understand. But if you use our words, our symbols, if you know of our existence...”
Underneath ‘words’ are ‘intersex, AMAB, AFAB’, underneath ‘symbols’ is the progress pride flag, and underneath ‘existence’ is three sentences: “Those cis people who get hormones,” “The living proof the gender binary is a societal construct,” “The I in LGBTI+”
Image Four: a drawing of a roaring purple dragon with yellow tufts of fur. Text, in all capital letters, next to it reads: “Then why do you never use those to talk about us. Why do you use those if you don't know what they mean."
Image Five: another drawing of a purple dragon, a yellow bit keeping its mouth shut. Text above it reads: “This is no longer ignorance. This is erasure. This is actively making it harder for us to find each other, to discuss our human rights, to spread awareness, on our conditions, because looking us up only returns loads of unrelated shit.” Capital letters underneath it continue: “To steal our words is to steal our voice.”
Image Six: two drawings of people with horizontal lines over where their eyes should be. One person is on the right while the other is on the left, mirroring each other in pose and design entirely. Text next to them read: “Cis people are so silly, thinking there are only two genders!” and “Lol, straight people are so stupid, getting confused by other sexualities.” Underneath them is capital text: “And yet here you are, perisex person. Acting the exact same towards intersex people. Do you not know a mirror when you see one?”
Image Seven: Capital text that reads: “Everyday my brethen is mutilated in the name of social acceptability. Our human rights are a fucking joke.” Between the two sentences is a compilation of several screenshots to display some of the abuse intersex people face. They follow:
The first image is a passage from the Wikipedia article for ‘intersex’ that reads: “Human rights and legal issues. [Further information: Intersex rights by country]. Human rights institutions are placing increasing scrutiny on harmful practices and issues of discrimination against intersex people. These issues have been addressed by a rapidly increasing number of international institutions including, in 2015, the Council of Europe, the United Nations Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the World Health Organization (WHO). These developments have been accompanied by International Intersex. Forums and increased cooperation among civil society organizations. However, the implementation, codification, and enforcement of intersex human rights in national legal systems remains slow.”
The second image is the table of jump links from the Wikipedia article ‘Intersex Human Rights’ that read: Intersex and human rights, Physical integrity and bodily autonomy, Right to life, Protection from discrimination, Remedies and compensation claims, Access to information, Legal recognition, Intersex rights by jurisdiction
The third image is an article headline from Open Society Foundation that reads: ‘Why Are Doctors Still Performing Genital Surgery on Infants?’
The fourth image is the body of an article from Human Rights Watch that reads: ‘Healthcare providers are an important source of information and comfort amidst such confusion. But in recent decades, many doctors have defaulted to advising early irreversible surgery on intersex children. These operations include clitoral reduction surgeries procedures that reduce the size of the clitoris for cosmetic reasons. Such surgery carries the risk of pain, nerve damage, and scarring. Other operations include gonadectomies, or the removal of gonads, which result in the child being forced onto lifelong hormone replacement therapy.
The fifth image is the headline of an article from the New York Times that reads: “This Intersex Runner Had Surgery to Compete. It Has Not Gone Well.” The body of the article follows: “Annet Negesa, Uganda's 800-meter Olympic hopeful, says she was advised to undergo an irreversible surgery because of naturally elevated testosterone levels. Her career has never been the same.”
Image Eight: all capital text that reads: “Why do I have to stay calm? Why do I have to educate you? You use our words, our symbols, our existence as a gotcha, but you couldn't be bothered to Google up a fucking definition? When is it my turn to be angry?” The last sentence is in bold text.
Image Nine: all capital text that reads: “I am tired of begging like a dog just so you remember our existence. I am tired of people acting like reading a Wikipedia page is too much for them”
Image Ten: all capital text that reads: “We are dying. Do better.” The background is the intersex flag—being entirely yellow with the open, purple circle on the bottom. Red is splattered like blood on the circle. END ID]
